Manchester United star Marcus Rashford’s poor form continued against Newcastle United on Saturday evening as he delivered another disappointing performance.
The Englishman was outstanding in the Man United shirt last season with 30 goals to his name but he has scored only twice in this campaign. His lack of confidence in attacking situations has been visible for a number of weeks at club level and against the Magpies, he had no impact in the game, offensive or defensive wise.
According to Whoscored statistics from the 1-0 defeat, Rashford registered only 22 touches with 11 successful passes at St James’ Park. He did not manage a shot on target and his body language was poor. He did not provide any defensive cover for Aaron Wan-Bissaka and was outpaced by left-back Toni Livramento. He was dribbled past twice.
It did not surprise us when he was brought off alongside Anthony Martial at the hour mark. Antony, who had a good game in midweek against Galatasaray, showed more intent going forward. The Brazilian had 1 shot on target and could have scored an unlikely equaliser in the dying minutes if not for Harry Maguire being in an offside position.
United head coach Erik ten Hag has been vocal in his support of Rashford this season and he has mentioned repeatedly that the forward needs just 1 goal to recapture last season’s form. Rashford did score from the penalty spot at Everton last weekend, but it appears that has done nothing to improve his mindset in front of goal.
He looked frustrated with the need to track back from the right wing yesterday and was a spectator at times, leaving Wan-Bissaka on his own to handle Anthony Gordon and Livramento. United will be back in league action versus Chelsea on Wednesday evening. Antony should start ahead of Rashford based on what happened on Tyneside.
